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Over 84 lakh MT paddy has arrived in Punjab grain markets: Additional chief secretary
Punjab additional chief secretary Anurag Aggarwal said 81.8 lakh MT paddy has been procured by various agencies and payments of more than ₹11,531 crore has been made to the farmers in their accounts
Punjab additional chief secretary (ACS) Anurag Aggarwal on Thursday said over 84.48 lakh MT paddy has arrived in the mandis across the state of which, 81.8 lakh MT produce has been procured by various agencies and payments of more than ₹11,531 crore has been made to the farmers in their accounts.
Aggarwal was in Khanna grain market to take stock of the procurement operations. Ludhiana deputy commissioner Surabhi Malik and additional deputy commissioner Amarjeet Bains were also present.
The ACS said that Punjab government was committed to ensuring a hassle-free procurement season and added that every grain would be procured without any inconvenience. He said farmers were receiving their payments timely.
Aggarwal later went to Libran village where progressive farmers have opted for in-situ crop management.
He said these farmers have saved the environment from harmful gases and earned various benefits in terms of increased yield of crop, improved soil health and others.
Aggarwal then went to a unit, Farm Gas Private Limited, which converts paddy stubble into biogas. He was told that 102.5 MT of straw was being used daily and 35,362 MT stubble was needed per year to run the plant. He was informed that bio CNG is produced from stubble in this plant, which is used in vehicles and after gas extraction from straw, the residue is used as fertilisers.
Prominent among those who joined the ACS were SDM Manjeet Kaur, tehsildar Navdeep Bhogal, chief agriculture officer Amanjeet Singh and DFSC Shifali Chopra.
